The invention relates to a scored smart card and particularly the profile of the score.
SIM (Subscriber Identity Module), cards, also called UICC (Universal Integrated Circuit Card) cards, are smart cards defined by the standard ETSI TS 102 221 of the European Telecommunications Institute. The ETSI has defined three SIM card formats. The first format is identified by the ETSI as the ID-1 UICC format, the format commonly called ‘credit card’ format, which is also defined in the standard ISO 7816-1. The second format is identified by the ETSI as the Plug-in UICC format, the most common format today with a card size of 25 mm by 15 mm, also called the second-generation format or 2FF format. The third format is identified by the ETSI as the Mini UICC format, the recently introduced format with a card size of 15 mm by 12 mm, also called the third-generation or 3FF format.
Smart card manufacturers are used to making a card body in the ID-1 UICC format in which card body formats of the Plug-in UICC and Mini-UICC sizes are placed, nested with one another and separated by scored zones. Scored zones may be achieved by a separating score line between the card bodies, which are joined to each other by tabs or by a so-called perimeter score.
The separating score line is commonly used because it makes it possible to hold the cards together well, while making it easy to separate them, breaking off one tab after another. However, this technique has one drawback, due to the score line, if it is used between the 2FF and the 3FF format. That is because some connectors receive the card by sliding, and have very thin contact pads that get stuck in the score line, thus damaging the connector and making the telephone unusable.
The perimeter score is a score made by reducing the thickness of the entire perimeter of the card body, leaving residual thickness that is smaller than the thickness of the card. The thickness of the card is 800 μm, so such a score leaves a residual thickness of a few hundred μm. This type of score remedies the problem presented above by the separating score line between the formats 2FF and 3FF. However, the perimeter score has the drawback of either being difficult to detach when the thickness of the residual matter left by the score is too great or being liable to be detached unintentionally when the residual thickness is too small. Additionally, in order to ensure high manufacturing efficiency, a card must be made which is compatible with the injection moulding method.